Spinal nerve injuries can be the result of many things including torn, ruptured, prolapsed, or herniated intervertebral disks. These injuries occur when disks are damaged so that disk material (the nucleus pulposus) extrudes through the annulus fibrosis and compresses spinal nerves. For younger individuals, disk herniation can occur when lifting a heavy load whereas sneezing can cause disk herniation in the elderly. Regardless of cause, disk herniation is usually painful.
Common symptoms of disk herniation can include: a stiff neck, back aches, muscle spasms, pain while coughing or straining, and sensory disturbances in the arms, hands, legs and feet. Most disk herniation is treated conservatively, at least initially.
Conservative treatment consists of strict bed rest on a firm mattress and the use of drugs. Local heat applications are also employed, but prolonged heat applications increase the likelihood of congestion. Corsets can provide additional support for an individual with a lumbar disk problem.
When the conservative approach is ineffective, surgery may be required. Surgical treatment of a herniated intervertebral disk often involves the removal of all, or a portion, of the nucleus pulposus of an intervertebral disk. Currently, no reconstruction of an intervertebral disk is performed thereby allowing rapid degeneration of the disk. This invention allows reconstruction of the disk using an implant. For an effective treatment, however, an implant must be firmly anchored in place. Unfortunately, known implants have a tendency to shift around like the damaged intervertebral disks that they replace, resulting in surgical treatments whose long-term outcomes are not always positive. Implants that employ sutures as an anchor are notorious for their high failure rates. Other implant designs that rely on caps, covers, and tethers attached to the annulus fibrosis are similarly problematic.